If the Los Angeles County Fair Association has done something wrong, a full and appropriate audit needs to take place. The stories by the L.A. Times, however, are written in a manner suggesting that this is nothing more than a politically driven smear campaign.

L.A. County supervisors have called for an immediate audit. The county audit dated July 8, 2014, found that the association actually overpaid the county for the period audited. What was wrong with last year’s audit? Do we need to investigate the auditing process, or did the supervisors simply not pay attention?

Focusing on the L.A. Times methodology, why start in 2009? All of the data reported is public information. In 2008, the association had a surplus of $4.1 million, and there was a surplus of $7.7 million in 2007. Instead of taking a longer-term look at pay and performance, the Times arbitrarily focused on the years directly impacted by the economic collapse in this country.

Next, the “investigation” ignores that the Fair’s impact is beyond what is reported in the association’s Form 990. The city, county and state all benefit indirectly through sales tax revenue, usage fees/taxes, and local businesses and restaurants benefit from increased patronage.

Finally, the Times chose to focus on revenue minus expenses, instead of on operating results, which would actually reflect management’s performance. Revenue minus expenses includes a number of IRS-driven accounting adjustments (e.g., depreciation, depletion and amortization or DD&A) that are non-cash expenses outside of management’s direct control. If we exclude DD&A, there was surplus for each of the years 2010-2013, instead of a deficit. This is exactly why most companies develop incentive programs tied to metrics that are directly under management’s control, and not on metrics that can be arbitrarily skewed by IRS regulations. This is also why comparing results across fairs may be misleading — fairs with the exact same operating results can post dramatically different “profit” numbers due to differences in capital and/or tax structures. The Times should have been more thoughtful about these comparisons.

The most disturbing fact is that local politicians, who have been in Pomona and L.A. County politics for a very long time, sound caught off guard. A range of individuals from former members of the Planning Commission to members of Congress are claiming that the association intentionally misled them. Again, all of the data cited in the Times articles is public information. L.A. County audits of the association are also available online. Just because these individuals chose to ignore the data does not mean that there was a grand conspiracy against them. One should not blame others for their own laziness.

If this is simply a political stunt, why now? The newspapers are quoting the same cast of characters that disparage the Los Angeles County Fair Association at every available opportunity. The Times also mentions over and over again that other fairs are run by county agencies. Are these career politicians simply looking to create another government agency via smear tactics that they can one day run when they get bored with, or term out of, their current positions?

Maybe I am wrong and an investigation will find some wrongdoing. Until that happens, though, we should not blindly follow the misleading “investigation” of the L.A. Times or the sound bites of our politicians. Cherry-picking data out of context, even if the data is “correct,” does not prove a valid point or prove financial mismanagement.

Jason Brooks of Fontana is a businessman in Pomona. He has an MBA with an emphasis in finance from Claremont Graduate University. He is a former executive compensation consultant.